Another week

So today was a lot of fun. We had a sports day with the Columbia and West Columbia Zones and played some basketball and jungleball (a dodgeball like game with just one ball and no boundaries). I was again reminded how terrible I am at basketball. Like literally the harder I try the worse I am. I’m 90% sure my great great great grandpa offended a witch doctor or something and then they cursed his posterity to be bad at basketball, but, for some reason the curse only affected one of his great great great grandchildren.

Before we played sports and stuff we went to this Chinese place called Egg Roll Chen. It was ok, but we had heard from other missionaries that it was AMAZING and we were kinda let down.

After our P-Day activities, we went to go contact this Bible referral we got for a man named Joseph Smith.

Yep, that’s not a typo.

We literally got a referral for Joseph Smith. We were really hoping that he was going to be really interested and want to join the church, but he ended up being this old guy who wasn’t too interested and pretty much just wanted his Bible. We will probably go by again, and who knows, maybe his heart will soften and I will be able to check baptizing Joseph Smith off of my bucket list.

Tuesday

Today was my first DDM here in Windsor Lake. I think it went pretty well. I just talked about ways we can find new investigators pretty much. After DDM, Elder LeC. from Sandhills area (never thought I would be with Sandhills again) and I went on exchanges here in Windsor Lake.

Elder LeC. is a great guy. He’s doing this weird diet thing where he only drinks this odd mixture of lemonade, Cayenne pepper, and maple syrup, for 10 days straight. He doesn’t eat or drink anything else besides water. Apparently he said its not that hard and you don’t feel weak. It clears all of the toxins trapped in your body and you lose around 2 pounds a day. It sounds miserable to me but hey people will do whatever to be healthy.

Anyway, we had a pretty fun exchange. We biked all over the place and I finally got the chance to explore the area more. We found a lot of cool places and I wish I had brought my camera because some of the places were beautiful.

Elder LeC. and I had an interesting experience at a less actives house. We showed up to the trailer and a lady walked outside and started talking to us. We asked her if the people we were looking for lived there, and she said that they had moved, but that she was their mom. Apparently she used to be a member before she had her name removed. Her family all converted a while back and then in the space of just a bit over a year most of them had their names removed. We asked why and she just said that it wasn’t what they were used to and they wanted to go back to being baptists. It was kinda an odd conversation. I asked her to do me a favor and take one of our Book of Mormons and just read a bit from it and ask yourself if this was something that improved your life. She refused and said that she didn’t want to try because it would only lead her to sadness. So I asked if she would just take it and put it on her bookshelf, and not even bother reading it, and she still refused. I told her that I was not trying to get her to join the church again, or even come to church again, but that I was offering her a Book of Mormon simply because I want everyone to have the same blessings and happiness it has given me, and by rejecting it she would be rejecting happiness. You could tell that she was feeling the Spirit, but she still refused. So, we wished her the best of luck and went on our way.

Anyhow, the rest of the exchange went smoothly. We went by a few peoples houses but nothing too notable happened.

Wednesday

Today we did a lot of service. Every week or so missionaries in Columbia volunteer for an organization named SBP. They help rebuild homes that were damaged during the flood. So we spent a large chunk of our day putting up drywall, sanding, and painting. It was actually a lot of fun.

After we did service we went to Ward Coordination and met with our WML Brother S. He is an awesome guy. He does things a lot differently than we did in Greenville, but he’s still awesome.

Thursday

Today I spent the morning helping the ZL’s make English class flyers. I don’t know why people always come to me for their tech problems.

After that we did service for PAALS, the dog training place. I had the lucky opportunity to clean out the bus, which is what they transport all of the dogs in. Man that thing was filthy. It took almost 3 hours to vacuum and mop the thing repeatedly until it was cleaner.

I don’t remember exactly what we did after that so clearly it wasn’t too crazy.

Friday

Today we had weekly planning in the morning and then we went and helped Sister DeC. (the family that moved in from Sac town) move a washer and dryer into their apartment. After that we went and visited a bunch of people. We went by the Ch.’s, our most progressing investigators. They told us that they would be moving to Elgin, so we are going to be losing them. I think that this is what God wants for them, because literally everything is lining up perfect for them. The place they are moving into is bigger, cheaper, and has more land. Russell Ch. wasn’t sure they were going to make it financially this month, but his boss just happened to give him an extra weeks pay and a raise just because he respected him and his hard work lately. There have been a lot of miracles that have led up to them moving, so I think that maybe the Elgin ward or maybe the Elgin elders will be better for them.

That was most of the day.

Saturday

So today was pretty slow. It rained a TON and it wasn’t safe to go out for a few parts of the day. We got soaked. We went by a lot of people and didn’t have too much success. The only crazy thing that happened was when we went by W. J., our recent convert, and he told us to come by another day because they had just had a death in the family. His brother-in-law had been randomly shot and killed just down the road the night before. It was a good reminder that this area has a lot of bad parts in it. Gotta love the ghetto. Aside from that though, it was just one of those days that just kinda blends in with the rest of the week.

Sunday

Today was awesome! We had a great sacrament meeting and then afterward we went home and I took a lunchtime nap.

After that we did a lot of work in the areabook, had dinner, and then in the evening we went out with Brother Se., a member of the ward and visited a few people. It poured rain the entire night and didn’t make going up to random peoples houses very fun. We got to visit with the Ch.’s again and Brother Se. was a great match for them. They got along super well and even though they are moving away from this ward, it was definitely good for them to meet someone besides us from the church.

We had a great lesson with them and you could definitely feel the spirit there. That pretty much made the day because it really cheered us up. After that we went home, and I made calls until we went to bed.
Anyhow, this week was a little hard but it was really good overall and it ended on a good note. Plus starting this upcoming week we will be having longer P-Days! So I can’t be unhappy knowing that is coming up!